A couple of days ago Prospective Media (@ProspectiveAG) announced a new product: newspaper job ads with a QR code linking to real mobile job ad.
For the first time in many years I then bought a newspaper (CHF 4.20 for 120 pages of which I was only interested in less than 20) and found one of the new job ads.
The newspaper job ad is classic except for the QR code and the mention at the bottom that it’s a new product by Prospective. It also says that you can apply by providing just a link to your LinkedIn or Xing profile.
In the same newspaper edition I found two other job ads with QR codes. But they linked to mobile unfriendly sites. In my opinion this doesn’t make any sense since people usually scan QR codes with a mobile device.
One ad even had a link to an application form that would have been painful to complete even on a laptop or desktop. But I’m not writing about abusive ATS’s today…
The Prospective job ad is a real mobile ad for the following reasons:
- first of all, the format of the ad is adapted to mobile devices. This means no need to do any acrobatics with two fingers in order to increase the font
- big font size, easy to read on a smartphone. Again, no need for acrobatics
- not just a lot of text, but a short intro and then clickable topics which will display additional details. This means that the information will just expand instead of having to reload on a new page each and every time
- in relation to the previous point: fast load times
As an added bonus, the text is also very good. I’m well aware that most (corporate) HR professionals like myself suck at copywriting. But in this case I actually enjoyed reading the provided information.
A New Approach
Believe it or not, the “contact” section encourages potential candidates to get in touch with the HR Director and even provides a phone number. And it also states a postal address for applicants who want to apply via snail mail.
This is unusual, as job ads often request applicants to use the official (ATS) channels and some ads even mention that online applications will get a “preferential treatment”.
It gets better!
Frankly, I expected the online ad to be just a mobile friendly version of the printed text, maybe with a link to the company’s career page.
But the crazy thing is that you can actually apply from your mobile phone!
All you need to provide is your full name, your email address and a link to your LinkedIn or Xing profile. There’s also a comment field, but it’s optional.
What is really ground breaking
Aside from the excellent technical implementation, I believe that the real change lies in the attitude of the hiring companies.
The classic point of view is that HR only wants to get applications from people who are really interested in the job. This makes sense if you have to screen 50, 100, or even hundreds of CVs while most clearly don’t fit the requirements stated in the job ad.
On the other hand, there are some hard to fill positions. I will discreetly avoid the usual “war for talents” debate for now, but when you’re the one in need of employees, then making it difficult to apply is probably not the best tactic.
And this is another reason why I love this new approach so much. The online format allows active, passive, but also mildly active candidates to take note of these open positions while commuting or waiting for their lunch party. And applying takes only 2 minutes.
Yes, the danger is that lots and lots of people will apply. But this type of publication and application process also sends a strong signal that you’re not only interested in classic hardcore applications, but are also open to a conversation and are available in case of questions.
Added bonus
I find it fantastic that one of the first companies to use this innovative new method are the Swiss Federal Railways (@SBBJobs). While many companies on the free market stick to old and dusty methods, once again a state-owned company is showing us what is possible in the field of recruiting in Switzerland.
Additionally, I sent a fake application just to see how this works (of course I apologized) and got a very nice reply back from the HR Director.
Now how cool is this? And who wouldn’t want to apply for this company?
